- Effects of the health and social services reform on data sharing
- Consent to data sharing
- Denial of consent to data sharing
- Instructions for setting the patient's consent or denials of consent to data sharing in health care
- Data sharing between social welfare services and health care sectors
Effects of the health and social services reform on data sharing
Patient data can be utilised and used more extensively than before within wellbeing services counties in connection with health care treatment. Public service providers that previously operated in the area have merged under a single service provider, known as the wellbeing services county. Each wellbeing services county has its own registers for healthcare patient data, occupational healthcare patient data and social welfare client data.
By giving their consent to data sharing, the client can ensure that data is also shared between the wellbeing services counties and between private and public service providers. Denials of consent to data sharing can be issued to restrict data sharing between service providers, for example between the wellbeing services counties and also between public and private service providers.
Denials of consent issued prior to the launching of wellbeing services counties do not prevent the use of data in health care within the wellbeing services county in question.
Service provider-specific denials of consent can still be issued in public health care for wellbeing services’ registers. If the client wishes to check whether the old service provider-specific denial of consent also applies to the health care register of the new wellbeing services county, this can be checked through the patient information system.
Data sharing between health care service providers requires the patient’s consent to data sharing
Patient data archived in the Kanta Services is always available to the service provider to whose register it belongs. When another service provider searches for data to view through the Kanta services, this is known as data sharing.
Data may be shared after the client has been informed about the Kanta Services and has given their consent to data sharing. In the region of Uusimaa, patient consent to data sharing is not required for data sharing if the customer has acknowledged receipt of the version of Kanta information that includes the clause about the temporary right of access to data in the region of Uusimaa.
Note that a client or treatment relationship with the patient is always required in order to view data in the Kanta Services.
The consent to patient data sharing in health care covers data sharing:
- between wellbeing services counties
- between public and private service providers
- between the health care and occupational health care registers of a wellbeing services county
- between wellbeing services counties and other public service providers.
Health care and social welfare sectors have their own sector-specific consent to data sharing.
The sharing of patient data generated in outsourcing services between the service provider and the organiser does not constitute data sharing and so does not require the patient’s consent to data sharing.
Consent to data sharing covers all existing and future patient data in the Patient Data Repository. Consent to data sharing will remain valid until further notice. The client may, if they wish, withdraw their consent to data sharing.
As of 1 November 2021, the consent to sharing has replaced the previously used consent to the disclosure of data from the Patient Data Repository.
Denials of consent in healthcare
The client may restrict the sharing of their data by refusing to consent to data sharing. Patients can refuse consent to data sharing
- between different health care service providers
- between different registers of the same health care service provider.
If the client does not wish their patient data to be shared within Uusimaa, data sharing can be restricted by setting up a denial of consent.
Data for which the client has issued a denial of consent to data sharing will not be shared through the Kanta Services between different service providers or patient registers.
The client can set a denial of consent to data sharing
- concerning a specific service transaction
- for a specific public health care service provider, such as a wellbeing services county
- for all registers
- for public health care
- for occupational health care.
In private health care, denials of consent to data sharing can currently only be issued for individual service transactions.
The scope of denials of consent to data sharing will increase in the future
In the future, it will also be possible for the client to refuse consent to data sharing from a private occupational health care register. A sector-specific comprehensive denial of consent to data sharing will also be introduced, which will prevent all data sharing between service providers.
Instructions for setting the patient's consent and denials of consent to data sharing in health care
In health care, the patient may also give their consent or issue a denial of consent to data sharing verbally. In such cases, a health care professional will record the patient’s declaration of their intention in the health care provider’s own patient information system, from where it will be saved into the Kanta System for issuing declarations of intent.
Upon request, patients have the right to receive a printout of a summary of the denials of consent they have issued. If necessary, a copy of the patient’s consent to data sharing can be printed out for them. Paper forms are not signed and are not archived by the service provider.
The Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare has published more detailed instructions on new operating models in health care following the new Client Data Act. You can also view training recordings introducing the new operating models.
- Operating models (thl.fi, in Finnish)
- Training recordings: Changes to operating models resulting from the Client Data Act in the healthcare service and in pharmacies (in Finnish)
Data sharing between social welfare services and health care requires the client’s consent
In the future, it will also be possible to share data through the Kanta Services between health care and social welfare services. This requires a new type of consent to data sharing from clients. More detailed information on the new consent will be added later at kanta.fi.